‘Scream’ Season 3 Gets Premiere Date, But Won’t Air on MTV

Three years after it was announced, the third season of MTV‘s Scream series will finally air, but on a different network.

The show’s entire third season will air over just three nights, starting on Monday, July 8, with two episodes airing each night at 9 p.m. ET on VH1, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

The show will also experience a reboot. Titled Scream: Resurrection, the new episodes star RJ Cyler (Power Rangers, Black Lightning) as Deion Elliot, a local football star running back whose past tragedies begin to haunt him. His hard-earned plans for his future are put in jeopardy, as are his friends’ lives.

The rest of the cast includes Keke Palmer, Mary J. Blige, Tyler Posey, Tyga, Giorgia Whigham, Jessica Sula, C.J. Wallace and Giullian Yao Gioiello. Paris Jackson, the daughter of Michael Jackson, will also make a cameo appearance in one episode.

Blige is playing Cyler’s on-screen mother, and the chance to act alongside her excited the young actor.

“If we’re all honest with ourselves, we’ve all sung Mary J. Blige relentlessly in the shower,” Cyler told TVInsider. “Dude or woman, it happens every now and then. So, when I heard she’d be playing my mom it was more like, ‘RJ, try your best not to creep her out because you are a fan. But don’t be a fanboy right now because y’all working.”

The actor continued, “It was really cool because she also has this very sweet composure about herself. She is one of the biggest voices in music, and she is just this humble person who is so sweet and loving. It was like rocking with my regular mom. I was like, ‘Hey, mama.’ It was too good. You’ll see it on-screen.”

Scream was renewed for a third season back in October 2016, with Brett Matthews (Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries) hired as the show’s third showrunner. Queen Latifah, Shakim Compere and Yaneley Arty also came on as new executive producers for the retooled series.

The new season will also be the first to include the Scream movie franchise’s iconic Ghostface mask, which was not featured in the first two seasons. Roger Jackson, who voiced the killer featured in the movies, voices the character in the new season.

MTV’s decision to kick the show over to VH1 likely has to do with MTV no longer airing scripted shows. The network refocused almost exclusively on reality television shows after Teen Wolf ended in 2017.

The Scream franchise kicked off with Wes Craven’s original 1996 classic, which was a surprise box office smash at the time of its release. Scream 2 followed in 1997, with Craven directing again. Craven also directed Scream 3 in 2000 and Scream 4 in 2011. The fourth film was the horror movie master’s last film before his death in 2015.

Photo credit: VH1